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North Carolina is back on the front page of the New York Times this morning, in a story with the headline “North Carolinians Fear the End of a Middle Way”

That is putting it mildly. The story includes an interesting take on the General Assembly by News & Record columnist Doug Clark.

Doug Clark, a columnist for The News and Record of Greensboro, welcomed the partisan change, but he now sees the state’s Republican leadership as fostering “extreme partisanship and abuse of power.” He questioned why the legislature, after passing laws governing abortion, guns and voter identification, and frequently trying to exert control over issues traditionally left to local governments, never got around to passing the governor’s plan to overhaul job recruiting.

2 Comments

Lyn Hankins

August 14, 2013 at 8:25 am

Even though I am embarrassed presently with NC politics, thank you for telling the country how backward the radical GOP is and where it is taking NC. I am a NC senior and never expected to see in my lifetime what has happened in NC over the past two years. NC has been such a progressive state, exemplifying what the South should be. I am so disheartened but hope for a better future.

ML

August 14, 2013 at 12:48 pm

Lyn,
I agree, I always felt NC was a place in which being a republican and a progressive were not mutual exclusive but the political climate in this state and the country has created a zero sum game in which every republican victory must accompany a democratic loss and vice-verse. Nowadays it’s impossible to be anywhere in the middle of the road or else you’ll get run over by everyone flying to one extreme or the other. It’s a dangerous time for those who simply wish to live their life underneath the cloud of those who pretend to represent our interests.

As voters, we have failed to evaluate each candidates expertise and experience so we are left with wholly incompetent leaders. Another equally troubling failure is the examination of each candidates character and fortitude which has given us politicians that are easily corruptible and manipulated, specifically in the cases where candidates run solely for access to the power and money that clings to our government like a disease.

In a time where no election is safe from excessive outside spending (yes even judicial races thanks to Art), it is no longer an option for someone with noble intentions to run for office of any size. As a result we are left with those who either have strong ties to outside interests or those willing to do anything for political power. Neither of which will provide leadership in the interest of the people, so in the end we are utterly lost.

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Friday, Feb. 16

12:00 PM

Crucial Conversation – Prof. Peter Edelman discusses his new book, Not a Crime to be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America

Prof. Edelman is coming to the Triangle to mark the 50th anniversary of Durham-based nonprofit MDC. His visit is the first of a series of MDC-sponsored events focused on ways that Southern leaders can work together to create an Infrastructure of Opportunity that shapes a South where all people thrive.”